Monthly Archives: November 2011

In preparation for a Saturday morning book signing with Newt Gingrich, the bookstore printed numbered cards for the first 500 people looking for an autograph from the former House speaker and Republican presidential candidate. The store gave out its first card at 8 a.m. on Black Friday–27 hours before Gingrich was scheduled to arrive–and ran out before he stepped in the door. After that, the Gingrich fans had to fend for themselves.

Gingrich spent the two days after Thanksgiving on a campaign swing through Naples, Florida, a wealthy conservative stronghold in the Sunshine State that was, to say the least, extremely welcoming.

We may be witnessing the political world’s answer to “The Producers,” the Mel Brooks musical about an avaricious showman who concocts a sure-to-flop production that somehow turns into the surprise hit of the season. It’s called the Newt Gingrich presidential campaign.

The former House speaker has rocketed to the top in national GOP polling, and with only weeks remaining until the Iowa caucuses he now has an opportunity to cement his status as the conservative movement’s designated alternative to Mitt Romney. In a month full of breakthroughs for him, Gingrich scored his biggest coup yet over the weekend, when the Manchester Union Leader awarded him the most coveted newspaper endorsement on the Republican side.

The growing crowd. The would-be First Hair made the front page of Friday’s New York Times. At a debate in Michigan a couple of weeks ago, the blogosphere responded to a few uncharacteristically stray Romney locks as if they were loose nukes.

And when late-night television host Jimmy Fallon asked presidential rival Michele Bachmann recently what comes to mind when she thinks of Romney, she answered, perhaps inevitably: “Hair.”

Early stumbles at Tuesday’s GOP foreign policy debate had little to do with policy — instead, the Republicans vying for their party’s presidential nomination struggled with names.

First, Mitt Romney tried to play off of a joke by debate moderator Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer asked candidates to give short introductions, joking, “Here’s an example of what I’m looking for: I’m Wolf Blitzer and yes, that’s my real name. I’ll be your moderator this evening and I’m happy to welcome each one of you to our debate.”

When the introductions turned to Romney, he opened with, “I’m Mitt Romney and yes, Wolf, that’s also my first name.”

But as political watchers were quick to note, Romney’s first name is not Mitt — it’s Willard. Mitt is Romney’s middle name.